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dzrams
PFF graded him with the highest Run Stop Percentage for ILBs at around the halfway point of the season. Here's their blurb:
"1. MARK BARRON, LOS ANGELES RAMS
PFF Grade: 83.7
Run Stop Percentage: 11.5 percent
In his first full season at the 3-4 inside linebacker position, the former safety-turned-linebacker is proving to be an integral part of Wade Phillips’ defense in 2017. Through seven games of the season, Barron has played a total of 165 snaps against the run and has produced 27 tackles and 19 stops. Barron moved to linebacker full-time in 2016, and he has produced 52 total run stops since, the fourth-most among off-ball linebackers in that span."
Pro-nfl-week-7-inside-linebacker-spotlight
That, and the high words of praise that Wade had for Barron last year leads me to believe that they like the job Barron is doing.[/i]
My opinion now is the same as it was during the season. Barron and AO both contributed to the bad run D. Barron mostly by getting caught on blocks and occasionally out of position. AO had some of that but he also nearly leads the league in missed tackles. But overall with the run stops, Barron was the better LB IMO.
I also feel that, after reviewing the season and the cause of the bad run D, the Rams essentially agreed by keeping Barron and trading AO. IMO, they moved out the worst offenders that they felt were the cause of that 4.7 yards average.
And the comparison to AO is useless because he's gone, it's not an either, or. In this case it's whether Barron can be good at the position or mediocre, killing is in key times because he lacks instincts to play the run. Again this is about the base defense. He can cover, but he cannot stack and shed a block very well. If he's unblocked he can on occasion knife in and make a play, but when he was out of the traffic in 2015, he was a very good WILL backer.
But it's more than that, we have only one starting OLBer in Ebukan. No Mike and an iffy Mo in Barron. since we don't have a 1st or nd rounder it's going to be tough to fill those positions...
